Deus Ex Gets Augmented with Star Wars Advertisements

[wadark]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

That's certainly a legitimate concern, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen that way. They aren't blind to the fact that certain levels of advertising would seriously piss people off, and I don't think they'd be blindly greedy enough to do so, but I suppose only time will reveal the answer to that.

 

[Raioken18]

This reminds me of that South Park episode. Anyway, you can't really complain that ads should be subtle or whatever, having a subtle ad would defeat the purpose of actually having the ad in the first place.

Frankly, I'm ok with ingame advertising as long as it doesn't effect anything important, loading screens being one of the least important things I could imagine, right up there with easter eggs.

 

[imnot]

I've tried. I don't care. This is a case where I'll deal with the slippery slope when we get there.

Your avatar!
You must be with George Lucas!
Kill the imposter!
KILL!
KILL!

 

[Sir Shockwave]

My copy of Deus Ex got Augmented...in the worst way possible.

 

[Racecarlock]

Didn't decline of video gaming 2 predict this, but with resident evil? I wonder how long it is before that minority report mall scene is reality.

 

[robert01]

The are exactly the kind of bullshit adds that shouldn't be in video games. Put them in tasteful places where they would be in reality, on vending machines, billboards, etc, and I bet you 100% of people wouldn't actually care that they are there, because they aren't intrusive. That shit, is terrible.

 

[GeorgW]

I love ads. They make it so I can completely ignore them, while giving back to something I like. So, while this is shameless and wrong, I have no problem with it.

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

That's certainly a legitimate concern, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen that way. They aren't blind to the fact that certain levels of advertising would seriously piss people off, and I don't think they'd be blindly greedy enough to do so, but I suppose only time will reveal the answer to that.

Oh, believe me, they're greedy enough.

 

[KingWeasel]

Think about it this way, say you bought anything, anything at all! Say you bought a truck. About 3 weeks after you buy said truck, the manufacterer shows up and hot gules a Star Wars Blueray DVD add to your drivers side door. You paid for the product add free. The add did not provide revenue to improve fetures fo the truck, it didnt make the truck cheeper. It is just space on "YOUR" truck being used to force an add on you.

Sure, you can claim that that spot on you truc door is not important to your driveing immersion, but its wrong. Developers have this sick idea that they can do what ever they like to the people that buy the things they make even after you paid for it.

On this very sight was a story about this double standard from game publishers, in this case it would sound like this:

YOU: Hey, I dont want to be advertised to on my loading screens.

DEVS: Sorry, games are a service, and when you agree to the service you agree to be addvertised too.

YOU: Well my disk for you add delivery service is scratched, can I send it in for a replacement?

DEVS: Sorry games are a product and you should take better care of your stuff, buy another disk.

Jamming these adds in after people buy the game is the same as glueing a bumper sticker to your truck. They know it, and they expect you to lie down and take it.

 

[Kapol]

I didn't realize that I had actually purchased a free app that uses ad money to help off-set it's lack of cost when I purchased the game for $40. Oh wait, that's because I didn't. Hell, even the Alan Wake ads were more subtle then this. This is incredibly stupid. And, I'd say it's a bit unfair to those who paid for the game. It'd be one thing if this was a normal feature that we could have known about when buying it. Then we could have considered that little bit of info when buying it. But to just patch it in, especially when most PC games can't avoid the patch without being in offline mode before it happens, is a dick move.

 

[Epona]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

That's certainly a legitimate concern, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen that way. They aren't blind to the fact that certain levels of advertising would seriously piss people off, and I don't think they'd be blindly greedy enough to do so, but I suppose only time will reveal the answer to that.

I don't question the greed of game industry anymore. As they grow bigger and bigger they whine more and more about lost sales due to used sales and piracy whilst charging multiple times for a single copy of a game (project $10 and the like) and selling DLC which is sometimes content cut from the game. Even telling us upfront that they have DLC planned while the game is still 6 months from release.

I certainly don't question the greed of advertisers. This level of advertising would have pissed alot more people off a few years ago but now you have people saying "bring on the ads". It's called conditioning and ads are everywhere now. It's insane that people want to be abused by advertisers. Abuse is defined by having advertising pushed on you after you paid for the content. Sort of like when you buy a Blu-Ray and can't skip the previews.

People who pay for cable TV and still get abused with ads need to stop and think about why they are allowing advertisers to steal 1/3 of every hour from them and 1/3 of their cable bill is to pay to be advertised to.

Would Coke pay more to have their ads put into a loading screen with guaranteed 5 seconds of exposure per level? You bet they would and sooner or later it will happen if people don't start saying no.

 

[Elijah Newton]

Wow, that's just dumb. I mean, it's dumb for Xbox Live. I haven't completed DE yet and while it's not going to make me stop, it certainly doesn't do anything to convince me to buy the product in question. What it will do is keep me from logging into Xbox Live while playing to avoid pulling the download. So, on the off chance that this sentiment actually makes it back to The Powers That Be at Xbox - the inclusion of a patch that promotes advertising for someone else means, as a side effect, that I will not be getting the advertising which promotes them.

Which seems like a dumb decision for them to make.

 

[godofallu]

They get paid to put advertisements into the game? Oh I didn't know that, this changes everything. I guess they really don't need my money then.

 

[Epona]

They get paid to put advertisements into the game? Oh I didn't know that, this changes everything. I guess they really don't need my money then.

Just like advertisers pay the networks to put their ads on tv, same deal here. Square Enix/Eidos is making money off of Lucasfilm to run these ads. They make money off of you multiple times if you buy the game, you won't see any savings though.

 

[Daddy Go Bot]

This is one of the few cases where I FULLY endorse piracy.

 

[Joshimodo]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

You monster. Don't give them ideas! Advert breaks in the middle of gaming?!

 

[Epona]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

You monster. Don't give them ideas! Advert breaks in the middle of gaming?!

I was actually trying to warn gamers who see no problem with in game advertising during load screens. Can't have people with fast PC's getting around the ads.

 

[ScrubberDucky]

But, seriously?
Don't care.
Playing it on Xbox360 - don't have XBL because I'm lazy/cheap/don't care.
Update won't affect me.

That's what I'm saying. Going to have to avoid patching it as long as I can now, but this still comes as a kick in the balls. As far as I was concerned, the devs of HR did everything right up until now.. I mean, they didn't go above and beyond, but they didn't pull any dick moves, either. Even more offensive is the fact that they're not some tiny studio and this is their debut title which is failing in sales--you know, the kind of people who could use the ad revenue money to make sure they can eat next month? Every sales figure I've seen for HR so far has been pretty damn far on the side of "successful".

Just seems like the same "given us more money" mentality a lot of companies have been displaying recently. I'd like to see their reasoning behind this.

 

[Tanis]

Just seems like the same "given us more money" mentality a lot of companies have been displaying recently. I'd like to see their reasoning behind this.

You (and not just YOU, but others here) realize that video game companies and employees are there to make MONEY, right?

I mean, SERIOUSLY...

You folks don't ***** when a commercial comes on between a TV show...so why now?
IT'S A DAMN LOADING SCREEN!

It's not like one of the enemy in the game is shooting you and then, while rushing you, screws out:
OMG, I SAVED A BUNCH OF MONEY BY SWITCHING OVER TO GEICO!!!!
*Blargah...-deathSOUND-*

...eh...

 

[ScrubberDucky]

Just seems like the same "given us more money" mentality a lot of companies have been displaying recently. I'd like to see their reasoning behind this.

You (and not just YOU, but others here) realize that video game companies and employees are there to make MONEY, right?

I mean, SERIOUSLY...

You folks don't ***** when a commercial comes on between a TV show...so why now?
IT'S A DAMN LOADING SCREEN!

It's not like one of the enemy in the game is shooting you and then, while rushing you, screws out:
OMG, I SAVED A BUNCH OF MONEY BY SWITCHING OVER TO GEICO!!!!
*Blargah...-deathSOUND-*

...eh...

To be honest.. yes. Hah.

I guess it comes as so much of an outrage because they've never done it before. I've been gaming for more years than I care to count, and while it's been there occasionally, there never really have been any blatant injections of advertisements into a product like this. And it's different in the medium of television and gaming because you don't pay to watch individual shows--that's why the ads are there. Obviously, in gaming, you pay the 60 bucks, which some people already think is too much to start with, and THEN they go and put some more shit in there. And there's no real reason for it. We already paid for the product, why bombard us with that?

I realize that corporations are in it for money, but what I was trying to get at is that more and more of them have been trying to go the extra mile to fuck us over and get MORE money on top of the millions in profits they're already making. And while saying Squeenix adding in a Star Wars ad to loading screens is fucking us over is a bit of a stretch, it falls under the same thought process.

We probably should've seen it coming, but, to go back to what I said earlier--I've been gaming for a long time, and the formula has always been "Pay the retail price for your console, your game, then go home and play your game". It was simple and everyone was happy. The onset of the digital era has allowed many wonderful and not-so-wonderful things, including the ability of companies to continue pervading our privacy, but if there's one thing they'll never take away, it's my right to *****!

I hope not, at least.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Oh at least give players a proper Star Wars-themed Deus Ex: Machina to go with the intrusion!

Considering both the game and Star Wars are sci-fi, they could have at the very microscopically least made it blend in better than what appears to have been a Star Wars sticker someone plastered onto the television screen.

But back to amends, I haven't played the game, but would a Death Star suffice? What about a lightsaber?

What I find annoying isn't so much the ad itself, a little box on my loading screens certainly isn't going to kill me or tarnish my enjoyment of an excellent title, but that the devs would simply patch this in after release which doesn't give anyone the opportunity to vote with their wallets on in-game advertisement.

Indeed, that is a very good point! It feels very deceptive to only include what is truly objectionable material (ha!) in a product post-release through an "update" to circumvent any nasty repercussions to initial sales.